Innings victory for Karachi Urban

Tahir Khan and Rajesh Ramesh shared eight wickets between them to bowl Karachi Urban to a victory of an innings and 111 runs over Lahore Shalimar, on the third day Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Cricket Championship Gold League match, at the National Stadium in Karachi.

Tahir, a right-arm offbreak bowler, took 5 for 52 and ended with eight wickets for the match. Ramesh, Karachi's fast-medium bowler, grabbed 3 for 35 runs in ten overs as Lahore Shalimar were bowled out for 196.

Karachi Urban resumed on 376 for 6 but Hasan Raza added only eight more to his overnight score before he was caught behind off Junaid Zia's right-arm medium-fast bowling. Zia ended with 4 for 85 from 21 overs. Before Tahir got his fifth first-class five-wicket haul, he made an unbeaten 44 and along with Ramesh who made 41 got Karachi Urban to 483.

With a lead of 307 Karachi Urban bowlers then set themselves to bowl out Lahore Shalimar in 51 overs. Humayun Farhat blasted 74 off just 53 balls that included 12 fours and two sixes. Mohammad Khalil was the next highest scorer with 23.

Lahore Shalimar will now play Karachi Harbour at Lahore from January 24 in a fourth round match. Karachi Urban, meanwhile, have a rest until the fifth round.

After gaining a first-innings lead of 78 Karachi Harbour went on to restrict Peshawar to 170 for 6 in their second innings at the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar.

Uzair-ul-Haq got 4 for 26 and Anwar Ali got 2 for 43. Ali also performed with the bat in the Karachi Harbour innings making an unbeaten 31 after they had fallen to 168 for 8. Batting with Faraz Ahmed (12), his ninth-wicket stand was worth 38 runs and took Karachi Harbour beyond the 200 mark. Fazl-e-Akbar, Peshawar's right-arm fast-medium bowler, triggered a middle-order collapse and got 4 for 57 while Riaz Afridi ended with 5 for 67 for the innings.

Peshawar are now 92 runs ahead with only four wickets left.

Yasir Arafat, the Pakistan allrounder, snapped up six wickets to steer Rawalpindi to a first-innings lead of 100 over defending champions Sialkot, in their third round match of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Cricket Championship at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi.

Arafat got 6 for 53 and led the charge along with Akhtar Ayub, 3 for 33, to bowl out Sialkot for 224.

Shahzad Malik, 60, and Abdur Rehman, 42, added 60 for the fifth wicket for Sialkot after the first four wickets fell for 60. Imran Nazir, 24, and Asim Butt, 35, chipped in but the lead was nowhere in sight. By the close of play yesterday, Rawalpindi were 26 for no loss.

Silver League

Multan extended their lead to 223 over Hyderabad after they bowled Hyderabad out for 339 and then made 140 for 5 in their Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Cricket Championship Silver League match at the Multan Cricket Stadium.

Hanif Malik and Nauman Ali added 92 runs to Hyderabad's overnight score of 201 for 5 before Malik was trapped leg-before by Mohammad Azharullah for 26. Ali meanwhile got his maiden first-class half-century, making 67 off 127 balls with ten fours and added 52 for the seventh wicket with Nasir Awais. Abdul Rauf got the wicket of Farhan Ayub for two and ended with 5 for 90 for the innings.

Usman Tariq, the Multan opener, hit a 65-ball 54 with nine fours in Multan's second innings. Kashif Naved, who had compiled a monumental 199 in the first innings, was not out at 31 when stumps were drawn.

A century by Ashar Zaidi, Islamabad's No.4 batsman, and half-centuries by Azhar Mahmood and Mohammad Fayyaz helped the side gain a massive first-innings lead of 280 over Lahore Ravi who were trailing by 191 runs at stumps on day three.

Zaidi and Mahmood added 87 for the third wicket after which Zaidi and Fayyaz added 121 more. Wahab Riaz dismissed all three and returned figures of 3 for 90 from his 21 overs.

Iftikhar Anjum took two wickets and Kashif Naved and Adnan Raza were batting at close as Lahore Ravi were at 89 for 3 struggling to avoid an innings defeat.

Abbottabad amassed a first innings score of 413 for nine and then shot out Quetta for 228 to take a 185 runs lead at the Khan Research Laboratory Cricket Ground at Rawalpindi.

Quetta were forced to follow-on and had faced a single ball before the day's play ended.

Wajid Ali finished on 100 not out, his first-class career's maiden century, as Abbottabad declared at 413 for nine after resuming their first innings at the overnight 363 for 6. He added 127 with Riaz Kail for the seventh wicket.

Sabir Hussain was the top-scorer for Quetta with 92 off 144 balls while Shoaib Khan made 37 as Abbottabad legspinner Dilawar Khan got 5 for 42. Nasir Jalil got 2 for 59 and and Sajid Shah got 2 for 52 runs.